Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

Broadband and Mobility

Google's Project Fi - Wireless Industry Disruption or Just Another Google Experiment?

Last week, Google finally pulled the curtain off its much anticipated MVNO wireless service.  Google calls it Project Fi.   One of the much talked about feature of the service is Google’s pricing model.  Google will only charge users for the amount of data they use instead of the tiered data pricing of the other wireless carriers.  In our opinion, Project Fi will not have a drastic effect on the wireless industry pricing. Project Fi pricing is more or less in line with the current wireless industry pricing.  In addition, carriers like T-Mobile and AT&T already offer plans that allow consumers to roll over their unused data to subsequent billing periods.   Initially, Project Fi will only be available on Nexus 6, which will mean that the impact on the wireless carriers in the short-term will be limited.

Project Fi is interesting in many other ways-the ability to automatically connect to more than a million Wi-Fi hotspots and using the phone number across multiple devices are some of the features that can enhance the user experience and can be very disruptive if Google decides to scale and expand Project Fi to include multiple devices.  The past few years have seen a number of Wi-Fi first or Wi-Fi only services launched in the marketplace. These include services from Freedom Pop, Republic Wireless, and Cablevision’s Freewheel services. However, Wi-Fi hotspots, while growing fast, are still not ubiquitous and these Wi-Fi services are useful as a supplement to a cellular data plan to reduce costs rather than a complete replacement. Google’s automatic Wi-Fi connection along with the seamless transition between Wi-Fi and cellular connections can go a long way in accelerating the growth of Wi-Fi based mobile connectivity. 

As I had mentioned in my previous post on this topic in January, Google will not be looking at Project Fi as a direct monetization opportunity and has a number of ways it can leverage its wireless service as detailed in the blog.  If and when Google decides to scale Project Fi, it will get interesting for the wireless industry and we will be watching it keenly.

More Press Releases

Wednesday, Jun 13, 2012

Save Social Media Posts with Seagate's Backup Plus

Seagate launched a new external hard drive that continues the proud GoFlex tradition, but with a f...

View More

Monday, Nov 16, 2015

Factors Increasing the Likelihood of SMB Interest in Cloud-Based IT Services

Small businesses (SMBs) represent a significant opportunity for IT products and services. These c...

View More

Saturday, Mar 14, 2015

A recap of the London Wearable Technology Show

I attended the London Wearable Technology Show last week. According to the event organizer, show...

View More
Phone:
972-490-1113
Mailing Address:
Parks Associates 5080 Spectrum Drive, Suite 1000W Addison, TX 75001 USA
Expertise
Smart Home: Management and Safety Consumer Electronics Connected Health and Wellness Broadband Small-to-medium Business (SMB) Connected Health
Services
Research Services: Custom and Consulting Research Projects Streaming Video Tracker Security Tracker Smart Home Tracker
Events
CONNECTIONS™ CONNECTIONS™ Summit/CES Smart Energy Summit Connected Health Summit Future Of Video Smart Spaces Upcoming Industry Events
Resources
Press Releases Analyst Blog Parks in the News Connected Consumer Podcast 
About Us
Overview Team Contact Us
Store
View Your Cart

Follow Us to stay informed

© 2023-2024 Parks Associates. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy

Design & Developed By Agency Partner Interactive